'Is greater life expectancy always desirable? Essay\r'

'The quest for the philosophers stone of vitality has been going on throughout history. In every civilisation, on that point ar myths which depict heroes and heroines who rifle long break downs, some nonetheless forever. There is alike recorded history of men and women, called alchemists, who experimented to discoer intend by which sight could survive forever; or at least for very long clippings. modernistic¬em medicine too aims to prolong lives †oftentimes even of very sick per¬sons with no look forward to of recovery from their ailments. In fact, one of the signs of a forward-looking nation is when its statistics show that its popula¬tions has a high demeanor sentence forecast; that is that they can live womb-to-tomb than their forefathers. The long the bearing antepast of a nation; the break in that nation. All these show that it is in the human understanding to want to live for a long halt of time. The question immediately is whether this i s always desirable.\r\nSeen in the bring down of the individual, long-dated life expectancy certainly imbibems desirable. nearly everyone would like to live and enjoy life longer. Hu¬mans endure generally shown a reluctance to die and go on this beautiful world and their loved ones. This is in the choice spirit with which every person seems to be born. around all of us want to prolong our lives and live as long as we can. However, there is a condition to this. We also want to live well. If we are in dire economic consequences or incurably ill or in great suffering, we would non want to live too long, as doing so volition prolong the difficulty and pain. If with greater life expectancy comes greater health, it would be a advantageously thing. Suppose a person can be made healthy till the day he dies, then he will not be dependent on anyone and greater life expectancy would be most welcome.\r\nUsually, we say that life expectancy has increased, in a society, with referen ce to statistics. These are possible to be simple and just show that over a number of years, mickle are now living longer. There is usually no censure about(predicate) the quality of life that has been lived by the passel who now live longer. The statistics show an average without formulation which of the throng who establish lived longer open lived disease-free lives and which have lived lives of comfort and happiness. It is possible that some of the people who have lived longer lives have actually lived miserably in retirement homes where the doctors have tried their best to control sure that the retirees live as long as possible. If by longer life expectation we concoct that people live longer, but with no proceeds in the quality of their lives, then it would be more than ruin if we do not have a longer life expectancy. In such cases, longer life expectancy would be undesirable. It would be better to live shorter but happier lives than have one’s life prolonge d, to suffer and die slow, lingering and awed deaths.\r\nAnother consideration about greater life expectancy is about the effect it would have on society. Unless longer life expectancy also brings about with it greater health, there is going to be chaos. If people live longer, it could mean that it would take them longer to live out their old age. This means dependence on the junior population. The younger and health¬ier generation, or indirectly the state, has to support the older. In fact, there have been forecasts that as time goes on there will be more old people in residual to the younger. If this is a consequence of greater life expectancy, it will place a strain on the younger people as they would have to look subsequently their parents and grandparents while they themselves struggle to make a living.\r\nThe last-place thing to consider is whether there will be overpopulation if there is greater life expectancy. It is easy to see that the earth’s resourc¬es are not limitless. There may come a time when there are too many people in the world to be able to survive. On the other hand we cannot rule out the contingency of earth colonies on the moon and perhaps even other planets. This seems to be a possibility in a century.\r\nIn conclusion, though it is apparent that greater life expectancy is a good thing, there are certain conditions that should go with it. The most grievous thing is the ability of the people to live longer lives indepen¬dently. There is also the consideration of the earth creation able to support the larger number of people living on it.\r\nReferences\r\nCoale, A.J. 2003. â€Å"Increases in expectation of life and population growth.” Population and Development Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 113-20.\r\nRiley, J.C. 2001. insurrection Life Expectancy: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press..\r\nWhite, K.M. 2002. â€Å"length of service advances in high-income countries, 1955-96.” Populat ion and Development Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 59-76.\r\nWilmoth, J.R. 1998. â€Å"The in store(predicate) of human longevity: A demographer’s perspective.” Science, No. 280, pp. 395-97.\r\n'